“T’ra”, a term used interchangeably by some. It can mean either hello, thanks, excuse me or goodbye. The change of plan came on Saturday and after deciding I wouldn’t be spending a third night in the general environs of Chorley, I headed slightly further north to Yorkshire. Found myself a gorgeous B&B in Carleton and spent the day cruising around the Dales getting further sun burnt in an amusing pattern.

The above is a straight out of the camera shot from my adventures today, while taking this shot my internal monologue was in overdrive. “See that house down there, 12 of us lived in one room and had nowt to eat all day except when father came back from t’mines with half a loaf of mouldy bread.” Then another strongly accented gentleman pipes in with “Half a loaf? Only 12 of you? You had it easy. There was 18,000 of us all huddled in one corner, only heat we had was from a gone out candle, father would thrash us with his belt when he got home from the mill and all we’d have to eat for the entire week was half a bag of damp coal.” No idea what I’m on about? You need to click on this then lad.

Making my way back south tomorrow, down to somewhere on the outskirts of the Peak District. That’s back to the original plan. I’ve got 150km of B road and off road routes in the sat nav, ready to be followed with less than pin-point precision. My usual method of navigating while on the bike normally ends up with “Ah, that feels like it’s the right direction”. Worked well so far anyway.

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